Improvement in hoop-skirts



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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN P. BUZZELL, OF CLINTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND HENRY HEMENWAY, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT lN HOOP-SKIRTS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 52,637, dated February 13, 1866.

To all whom alt may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN P. BUZZELL, of Clinton, iu the county of Worcester and State of lvlassachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in'Hoop-Skirts; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, Which will enable those skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which Figure 1 represents a perspeetive View of this invention; Fig.2, a side elevation of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

This invention consists in a hoop-skirt provided with an opening in its back part at about the middle of its height, said opening being produced by cutting out portions of the four (more or less) middle hoops in such a manner that the skirt will readily bend in, and the wearer thereofin sitting down has no trouble to adjust her skirt, as the same will adjust itself Without difficulty. The opening thus produced may be lled out by netting or other A represents a hoop-skirt composed of a series of hoops, B, of gradually-deereasingsize, and united by tapes C or other suitable material in the ordinary manner. In the back part of this hoop-skirt, at about the middle of its height, an opening, a, is produced by cutting the middle hoops, B and securing their ends to thetapes C ,instead of continuing said hoops clear round, as usual.

The operation of fastening the ends of the hoops B' to the tapes 0' may be performed in any suitable manner, and pieces of leather or other suitable material may be applied to protect them from sticking out, or only short pieces may be cut out of said hoops and replaced by pieces of cord or other exible material, which will allow the back part of the skirt to bend in.

If desired, the opening a may also be tilled out with netting or any other suitable material. The operation or effect of this opening can readily be seen by examining Fig. 1 ot' the drawings. Ifthe wearer of the skirt sits down, the front portion of the hoops is not forced up in the air, as is usual with ordinary hoop-skirts; but my skirt bends down readily and allows the front portion of the hoops to fall down and to adjust themselves in a decent position. By this opening the whole skirt is rendered more iiexible, itdoes not Hy up on one side if pushed against on the other, and it adjusts itself in' the proper position without shaking down, it the wearer thereof rises from a chair or seat; and last, not least, its cost is less or certainly not more than that of an ordinary hoop-skirt.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A hoop-skirt provided with an opening, a, in its back part, produced by cutting out portions of the hoops B', whether said opening is left empty or tilled with netting or other flexible material, substantially as and for the purpose herein described.

The above specification of my invention.

signed by me this llth day of September, 1865.

JOHN P. BUZZELL. Witnesses M. M. LIVINGSTON, 0. L. TOPLIFF. 

